Waiting for good weather in a small but lovely town called Dunmore east...

After being in Dublin for a week, we decided it was about time to start moving and get to know different places. So Wednesday 26 of August we start sailing south.

The weather was nice, and the wind stable, so it only took us one day and a night to get to a nice place called Dunmore. The harbour is small but very well protected from the bad weather that was coming soon. It was mainly a fisher boats harbour. But we saw a Swedish boat who had just arrived and was the same size as ours so it was perfect place to tide next to. On board was Chris, Bea and their cat Lisa, he's from Sweden and she's from Belgium.
As soon as we got there, we met Dave, he owns a bar restaurant in town called The Bay cafe. It's a very nice place with good food, low prices and always crowded. Is a nice place to go to have breakfast or a late brunch, but don't go so late or you wont find a free table... If you ever come to Dunmore and need something, even if you come with the boat, just ask Dave. He belongs to the staff of the marina and he knows everyone in town. He is the most friendly guy we have ever met. Just call him, he would love to give you a hand or if you don't need any, just to have a talk. Dave cellphone +353 876743572

Here when you need diesel you'll have to call the fuel truck... as we said, fuel delivery...

We had some rainy days and lots of spare time... so we decided to finally take out the insulation matterial inside the wall besides our bed, which after 2 winters and lots of condensation it was starting to get lots of moho
Things to do in Dunmore and around:
While you are at Dunmore, there are many things you can do. You can rent a car and drive to all the towns around, nice and tipical irish country style. Or you can also walk and see many nice places. Land scape and amazing houses along the coast.
We did many of this things. Though we didn't rent a car. Dave was so amazingly nice he took as on his own car around the most important towns around.

We walked along the cliff. Beautiful land scape, with high cliffs and green fields.
We even found a nice beach with people swimming!

The marina, or better say, harbour were we had our boat is also a nice place to go and see. There are not so many harbours like this left in Europe, at least that are still active. It's full with fishing boats, which come's and go's everyday. Besides the old fishing boats and their fishermen with their fish, you will also see lots of seagulls, waiting for their share...

Dublin... 2 days and 200 litres less of diesel to get here from Scotland!

Dublin, I would have never said it's a lovely city. I fell in love at first sight! Maybe its because I've been living in Oslo for so long, but I just loved the crowded streets and that it seems its Friday every day! Bars and pubs, that you could find one every 10 mts, and are always full. Doesn't matter which day or time it is.
Other thing that also impressed me a lot is how friendly everyone is! Besides one stupid taxi driver, who I can even say now maybe he wasn't even from here, every people I've met or talk to has been nice and extremely friendly... one other reason to love this city.

Oh but be careful... always watch left before you cross a street!

The marina we are in, is the most near to the city centre, but even so, we are about 20/30 min walking distance from there. We can take a bus, have walk or take a taxi... but I have only done the taxi (10 min), and one day I walked... But I never really get the chance to experience the bus drive in the city; I guess it's always good to leave things for next time!

In the weekend I was left alone on board. Kai left for a wedding in Norway, Thomas finished his holidays and went back home and Sam and Vicky left to London for some days before going to NY for the wedding. I was really happy to be left alone a couple of days. It's nice to have people in the boat, but after been 2 weeks with them all the time, I felt I really needed some Time alone!
So I met a friend from Oslo on Saturday, who I was lucky she was in town. We went for a pint (beer in Ireland) and we met again at night at her boyfriend's house, cause there was a small party.
What can I say, it was a fast weekend but I enjoyed my time!
We spent a couple of days in Dublin, but after that we start getting anxious about starting moving again. So between low pressior and low pressior we start sailing a little more south...
Things I recommend to do if you visit Dublin:

1916 Rebellion walking tour. www.1916rising.com
It's a walking city tour about the 1916 rebellion. It was really nice actually. The guide was the best of all. He was really living the story, telling it with all his emotions and listening to him talk about all this famous Irish men and women who died for their rebellion... it makes you want to know more about their history. If you are in Dublin, this is one thing you should do, and it's also a way of walking a little and getting to see the nice places of the city.

Guinness storehouse
The Guinness storehouse, which is the factory and museum, is near the city centre, just some minutes walking. If you have never try a Guinness before, here is your chance, you get a free beer with the ticket entrance. Not my favourite but something worth trying. Don't miss the bar on the top floor, has an amazing view.

Temple Bar Street
This is the most famous street in Dublin. A pedestrian street full of pubs, bars and restaurants. Some pups play live music everyday. There is always something going on in this street.

For those who don't know, me Alina, with my boy friend Kai, Norwegian skipper and owner of Yemayá the boat we've been living the last 2 years, have left our jobs and lifes in Oslo to go sailing around the world for some years. We are accompany by Sam and Vicky. They are a English couple who was living in Singapore, but they decided to quit their jobs too and join us in our trip.

It's been little more than 2 weeks now since we left Oslo. We've been in some places and done some things since we left, but not so many compared to what we'll do... I'll try to keep you posted with all the things we do, so you can follow us at least through the internet. Hope you enjoy the trip as we do!

August 1st 2009, we finally left Oslo. After two years planning and dreaming, today we are finally taking the ropes on board but to be kept there until we find different ports!

Some of our friends came to say good bye to us, so we cheered with some champagne and we said to meet again in some warmer places...

And so we went... good bye Oslo, and us we'll like to say... So long, and thanks for all the fish!!

We spend the first night on a bay between Oslo and open see. In the morning Kai and Sam thought of going for a bath... of course they thought they were already on the tropics and forgot about the Norwegian weather and its cold waters!!

It's time to sail a little... And so we left from the Oslo fiord with the help of some wind and sail towards Bergen.

In the way to Bergen we spend two nights at see, one night at Kristiansand and one night at Haugusond. We arrived Bergen the 6th of august at 21:30

Bergen, Kai's home town! We found a nice place in the middle of the city centre. Just next to the fish market and bars, were all the tourists come to take their postcard picture.

We stayed in Bergen for 3 nights. We had Kai's family and friends on board many times, some for breakfast, some for coffee in the afternoon and some for late night drinks. On Friday night we had dinner, raclette, at Kai's mom's house. We spend a nice time in Bergen, and I think the crew, Sam and Vicky, enjoyed as fell. Tomas, the last member of the crew, German guy from Milan, arrived Saturday afternoon. So now we are complete and ready to start the big journey. First stop Scotland!

We left Bergen knowing the winds will not be all great for us, but we never imagined there was not going to be any when we were at the middle of the north see. So at the end... it took us 4 days to get to Scotland, but we finally did!

We payed the fee for entering the Caledonial Channel, quite expensive to be honest, and we were ready to get in... 29 logs and 3 nights in total!

Next stop... Dublin, Irland!! It took us 2 days to arrive, we didn't had any good winter so we used the engine most of the way, so we could say, 2 days and 200 litres of diesel less... we arrived to Dublin!